Adding Custom Domain Settings

When you'd use this

Most people never need this guide. The basic stuff (your website, free email forwarding) is all set up automatically.

You'd come here if something else asked you to manually add a setting to your domain:

• 🔍 A service asked you to verify ownership (Google Search Console, Facebook Business Manager, etc.) — see the verification guide, which is dedicated to this case
• 📨 You signed up for a third-party email service (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, ProtonMail) and they need you to add their mail settings
• 🌐 You want a subdomain to point somewhere else — like making blog.mybusiness.com show a Medium blog while mybusiness.com stays on your website here
• 🛒 You want to use a third-party tool on a subdomain — like shop.mybusiness.com showing a Shopify store

If none of those apply, you can probably skip this article.

How to add a setting

1. Open your dashboard → click DNS in the left menu
2. Click Add DNS Record
3. Pick the Type — see "What type do I pick?" below
4. Fill in the Name field — see "What goes in the Name field?" below
5. Fill in the Value field — copy exactly what the service told you
6. Leave the TTL at its default unless the service asked for something specific
7. Click Add Record

The new setting takes effect within a few minutes.

What type do I pick?

This depends on what the service told you. Look at their instructions:

If they say...	Pick
"Add a TXT record" or "Add a verification record"	TXT
"Point this to an IP address (like 192.0.2.1)"	A
"Point this to a hostname (like myshop.shopify.com)"	CNAME
"Add an MX record for our email service"	MX
"Add a certificate authority record"	CAA

If they don't say, scroll back through their instructions — they usually say in the heading.

What goes in the Name field?

The Name is what part of your domain this setting applies to:

• To apply it to your main domain (like mybusiness.com itself), type @ (the at sign) — or leave it blank
• To apply it to a subdomain (like blog.mybusiness.com), type just the prefix part — blog
• For multi-level subdomains, type the full prefix — like store.shop for store.shop.mybusiness.com

You do NOT need to type your full domain name. The dashboard adds it for you.

What goes in the Value field?

Copy whatever the service told you to add, exactly. Even one extra space breaks it. Tip: if you're copying from a web page, use Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on Mac), don't retype it by hand.

When to ask for help instead

A few cases are trickier and easier if we set them up for you. Email support@siteglowup.ai with what you're trying to do if:

• You're changing where your email goes (changing MX records) — getting this wrong stops your email
• You're adding SPF/DKIM/DMARC settings — these can clash with existing settings
• You need to replace a setting we set up automatically — the form only adds new settings; replacing requires manual surgery

We respond within a business day and we don't charge for help.

Common questions

"It says I added the record but the service doesn't see it"
Wait 5-10 minutes, then click Verify again on the service's side. The internet takes a few minutes to spread updates.

"What's TTL?"
Stands for "Time To Live" — how long the rest of the internet keeps a copy of this setting before re-checking. The default (3600 seconds = 1 hour) is right for almost everything. Leave it alone unless the service specifically asked for a different value.

"Can I edit a record I already added?"
Easiest is to delete it (trash can icon next to the record) and add a fresh one with the new value.

"I added the wrong thing — does it cost money to remove?"
No. Adding, editing, and deleting these settings is free.